


The Other

by Ghoulboyboos



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Character Analysis, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Possible Mental Issues, Possible Possession, Vague interpretation of who the f Ricky Goldsworth is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 22:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16543142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghoulboyboos/pseuds/Ghoulboyboos
Summary: Ricky was hard to explain. According to Ryan, he hadalwaysbeen there.-Ryan has an unwanted stowaway who he carried with him his whole life. Luckily, nowadays he has someone who helps him keep the guy in line.





	The Other

**Author's Note:**

> I kept the "origin" and "reason" of Ricky vague on purpose. I don't feel entitled to write about multiple personality disorder or similar conditions, it's merely what a skeptic might assume when confronted with a case like this.

When Ryan wakes up, his nightstand is missing.

 _No._ He frowns. _That’s not_ _it_ _._ His nightstand isn’t missing. It’s the room that’s wrong and so is the bed. He’s not in his apartment, not in his room, not in his bed.

This bed feels vast and way too huge as he runs his hand over suspiciously soft sheets and a large, comfortable mattress. It takes him a moment to find the edge.

With a heavy sigh, he rolls on his back and covers his face with his hands. _Fuck._ He has really hoped he had more time before it happened again. By now, it is getting out of hand. It’s too soon to go through this again, to deal with all of _his_ shit again. This is his second big lapse this month and it’s barely even the 20th... _Hang on, what date_ _i_ _s it even?_

 

He rolls over and glances up to see the little board mounted to the wall just in reach from the bed. It holds his plugged in phone and Ryan is thankful for small mercy’s as he checks the lockscreen. It’s the 17th, which is better than he expected. That means he only lost about a day. Ryan thoughtfully taps his phone against his teeth while he tries to figure out when it started yesterday. He remembers getting up and in the shower. He remembers shaving. And… That’s about it.

 

Slowly, Ryan sits up and lets the sheets pool at his hips. He’s clad in expensive looking silken boxers and nothing else. At least he woke up alone this time and not in the bed of someone else-

Suddenly, a shock goes through his system.

 

“Oh crap.” He mutters as he unlocks his phone and swipes through it. The last time he woke up in a strange bed after a lapse, “he” had picked up a woman at a bar the night prior. She wasn’t exactly thrilled that Ryan suddenly wasn’t as smooth and charming as he must have been the night before and she also was understandably pissed that “Ricky” couldn’t even recall her name. Ryan was already in a bad position back then and it wasn’t like he could call her out for calling him “Ricky” while he really was… not. Not at the moment at least.

It had been the worst walk of shame in his life.

 

But at least back then he hadn’t been _in a relationship._ He had been single and while the whole affair had made him look like a douche, at least he hadn’t been a _cheating_ douche. Ryan quickly scans his phone for any messages or pictures that might tell him about what happened last night, but he only finds a couple of pictures. There’s one of LAX, one of a plane, then the inside of a plane and – _oh no –_ a plane seat that’s clearly first class _– fucking God damn you, Ricky –_ until finally, a very expensive looking, illuminated building that was probably a hotel at which point the “story” of last night ends. Ricky enjoys to leave Ryan clues once in a while and Ryan doesn’t appreciate it because it’s cryptic as shit and he’s probably jet-lagged and doesn’t feel in the mood for puzzles.

 

He scoffs and backs out of his gallery to open his contacts. When his finger hovers over Shane’s name, Ryan finds himself biting his bottom lip.  _Please, Ricky. Please tell me you didn’t fuck it up with him._

 

With a deep breath, Ryan hits “call” and puts his phone to his ear. The second the call connects, Ryan nearly falls out of bed because the “Ghostbusters” ringtone that Shane chose for him starts playing right behind the bedroom wall. Ryan scoots back and bumps his head against the headboard, cursing as he reaches up to rub the sore spot. He hears a laugh outside, right when Shane dismisses his call. A moment later, the door opens and a familiar head pokes in. Shane’s hair is extra fluffy in the morning and his tired eyes look soft, which always causes Ryan’s stomach to do a funny little flip. Shane is dressed already, but he’s wearing his glasses, not his contacts and he looks a little sleepy as well. Ryan is so relieved to see him that the pain in his head becomes secondary right away.

 

“Shane.” He breathes and feels a twinge of worry about what could have happened the night before, but thankfully, he sees Shane smile at him.

“Morning, Ryan. Good to have you back.”

Ryan  feels some of the tension drain from him as he breathes out slowly and he knows he has to explain, has to talk about it and that he should mentally steel himself, but  then Shane simply walks over and crawls  i n to bed  with Ryan to sit close enough for his hip to brush Ryan’s  leg .

When Shane reaches out and carefully caresses the spot where Ryan bumped his head, Ryan’s eyes flutter shut. He realizes how terrified he was when he thought he woke up all alone in a strange place or that Shane was gone or mad at him. Or even worried and searching for him back home in L.A.

“I’m so sor-”

Shane shushes him softly and keeps caressing his hair.

“Hey… come on. Don’t apologize, Ryan. It wasn’t you. Literally.”

“But…” Ryan groans and rubs his eyes. They sting and his stomach feels weird. Why is he forced to suffer Ricky’s hangovers?

“It’s still kind of my fault, Shane. I have to fix this somehow. And I have to get this figured out, too. Before something shitty happens or … _he_ hurts you.”

He sighs and rubs his head, nudging against Shane’s hand still in his hair. Shane takes it and links their fingers, still smiling softly.

“You don’t have to talk about it now, Ryan. You had… well, your body had a long night.”

Ryan groans and winces at that.

“What did he do?”

“Well… do you want the whole story?” Shane is still smiling a bit which is probably not the worst sign. Ryan sighs and nods.

“Then let me order some breakfast, first.” Shane swings his legs from the bed and reaches over to pick up the hotel phone. “He paid for this in advance so we might as well get something out of it.”

 

-

 

“So,” Shane says through a mouthful of wonderfully fluffy scrambled eggs. “Let me start this out by saying you don’t got any unpaid shit to worry about and he didn’t throw us into debts.”

“Oh thank fuck.” Ryan is stirring his bowl of cereal and yogurt, trying to focus. “What did he do?”

“I’ll get to the whole story, hang on.” Shane washes down the last bite with his coffee. In front of them are the leftovers of a seriously lavish breakfast. Ryan stares out the window and all he sees is sky. Of course Ricky took the most expensive suite in the hotel… _a suite. In Las Vegas._ Where they apparently are, now. Shane slept on the couch and called it the most comfortable thing he ever crashed on but Ryan still feels kind of sorry for Shane being banned on the couch because the bed he woke up in was ridiculously huge. For a second he wonders when they have to leave and if they can get some leisure time out of the place before flying back to L.A. But then Shane clears his throat to start filling him in and Ryan sits up in the plush kitchen chair and listens.

 

-

 

Shane rung Ryan’s doorbell again, looking up at the  speaker in the hopes of being buzzed in. Nothing. He frowned. That was weird. Ryan said he would be in. He dug through his pockets for his phone and pulled it up to call hi s boyfriend . After a few rings,  the call went to voicemail and Shane opened his mouth for a moment, thinking about a message to leave. He hung up instead, not sure what to think.

 

Ryan was  _supposed to be home,_ they had plans and Ryan wasn’t the type to just vanish and forget about  stuff like that . Even though their relationship was still fairly new – the romantic  part at least, they had been friends for years – Shane considered Ryan a very sweet and thoughtful boyfriend and definitely not the type to just  stand him up.

 

He was  getting ready to call again when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. Down the street, just a few doors down, Shane could spot a familiar figure. He was wearing sunglasses and a suit jacket but that was definitely Ryan he was seeing. The same hair, the same frame, the same profile. While Shane heard the ringing on the other end of the line, he could see Ryan lift his hand, glance at the phone in his palm and then pocket it again. Shane was already moving before he hit voicemail a  second time .

  
Shane wanted to make sure that he caught Ryan before the other man could cross the street and while he kept jogging after him, he wasn’t exactly sure what to do and how to “confront” his boyfriend. Maybe Ryan just had an appointment he forgot about, but somehow, Shane felt like something else was going on. He _needed_ to check and when he reached out and brushed Ryan’s elbow with his fingers, only to see him flinch away and glance back at him in surprise, the slight twinge of suspicion in his stomach grew.

 

“Oh. It’s _you.”_ Ryan said in an entirely un-Ryan way. His voice was flatter and darker and there was a twinge of hardness around his eyes as if he was squinting behind the sunglasses that he slowly lowered to take in Shane’s face.

 

“It’s me!” Shane said, trying to sound cheerful, but he could feel a bit of a shiver rolling down his back. This was the third time in his life that he _met_ Ricky Goldsworth and the first time he encountered him since he and Ryan got together, but he knew that this… guy was around a bit more than that. It was something Ryan understandably kept from people. It had been impossible to keep it from Shane, but Ryan still tried to make sure that no-one, not even his closest friends and coworkers would know and Shane respected that. He didn’t want to imagine what kind of reaction people would have to a semi-famous internet celebrity and their “weird other” who was sometimes taking over.

 

Ricky was hard to explain. According to Ryan, he had _always_ been there. He had been an imaginary friend when Ryan was little. The type that got him in trouble sometimes. When he got older, Ryan liked to use Ricky’s name as an alias in situations where he preferred not to be himself, like when he tried to talk to the cool kids or made his first experiences with the internet. To this day, he remembers that it would always give him confidence. Once Ryan was an adult, he would sometimes… lapse. It could be seconds, minutes or hours in which Ryan would act different, have a harsher and colder tone, a straighter back and a more closed off face. When the real Ryan would resurface, he never had any recollection about what happened. The night Ryan had told Shane about it was the first time Shane actually realized how much he wanted Ryan to be safe and okay. It wasn’t some weird savior complex or that he wanted to “fix” Ryan. He was just used to worrying about Ryan when he saw him wig out in fear on location and now Shane also began to worry that this Ricky guy could get Ryan in actual trouble. From what he gathered, Ricky Goldsworth was a bit of a trouble maker who liked it when people did as they were told. Or rather: When they did as Ricky told them. He also seemed to be a creature looking to live in the lap of luxury and Shane didn’t want Ryan to wake up to a new loan and an expensive car in front of his house. While Shane was grateful for Ryan to trust him with this part of his life, it had made things a little difficult. Since Shane knew about Ricky, he couldn’t simply reveal his feelings for Ryan without making the whole thing at least a bit about Ricky, too. Because Shane didn’t want to date Ricky. Ryan just wanted all of his life back and Shane would have done anything to help him achieve it. But Ricky Goldsworth was hard to get rid of.

 

Despite the complications, they had ended up together and happily so.  Shane  did his best to ma k e it clear that he loved Ryan, no matter what and Ryan had tentatively reached back out for Shane, not wanting to allow “the other” to ruin  a chance like this . Shane still didn’t see himself as some weird savior figure. However, one thing that Shane  felt like he  needed to do was have an eye on that pesky guy that would sometimes hijack Ryan’s body and take it for a joyride around L.A. Ryan had given him a “worst of Ricky”  list, which included one-night-stands, bills from expensive  r estaurants and a very  real looking  Rol e x that Ryan woke up with  one morning and  promptly dropped off at a Lost-and-Found, hoping and praying that Ricky didn’t fucking steal it.  So far, Goldsworth hadn’t put Ryan in debt  or caused  _too_ _much_ trouble  and  if Shane was fair with the guy, he didn’t really seem to aim to ruin Ryan’s life. He just was the type not to care about consequences as much as Ryan did with his anxiety and tendencies to worry too much. Shane wanted Ryan to be happy and since Ricky was a part of Ryan in some way, shape or form, he had to take care of that guy as well, even though the two  or three  times they “met” before Shane and Ryan got together, had been sub-par.  He still bristles a little at the “Keep your mouth shut, Long-legs” that Ricky shot at him back then.

 

Ricky was sneering at Shane and Shane tried not to let it bother him that the other guy put that kind of look on Ryan’s face.

“What do you want, Madej?” Shane didn’t miss how Ricky pulled back his arm and brushed the sleeve of his jacket off where Shane had tried to grab him.

“I was wondering where you’re going. Ryan and I had a date, you know.”

“I know.” Ricky rolled his eyes. “You spend a lot of time together lately. I was hoping to have some time for myself, for a change.”

His stare was hard when it return ed to Shane but Shane refused to budge.

“So sorry that you feel neglected. I just wanted to make sure you don’t get Ryan in any trouble.”

Ricky grinned at him in a way that made Shane think that this dude would probably have a golden tooth if he was an actual person  on his own  and a couple decades older.

“Scared, Madej? Think I’m going to fuck someone and tarnish your little pet with someone elses’ fingerprints?”

Shane scoffed at him.

“Seriously? Fingerprints? People aren’t “marked” like objects are. And this is not about me. I don’t want you to hurt Ryan. Emotionally _or_ physically.” He kept his firm stare on Ricky, trying to make clear that he was serious.

Ricky sighed theatrically and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“You’re not gonna let me go play on my own, are you.”

It wasn’t a question, so Shane didn’t answer. He merely smiled and Ricky rolled his eyes again.

“Fine. But don’t think I’ll play nice only because I got a nanny, now.”

He held out an arm as an invitation and Shane linked it with his own, allowing Ricky to lead him as they crossed an intersection.

“What were you thinking of, Mr. Goldsworth?”

Ricky’s eyes were positively glowing.

“I have some ideas, Madej.”

 

-

 

“So he went to _Vegas?!”_ Ryan gasps, rubbing his forehead.

Shane sips his orange juice and nods.

“Yeah. He said he needed excitement, different air and people who know how to party. He found someone to took us to LAX for free where he somehow talked some guy into taking another flight _and_ to sell him his tickets for next to nothing. He also wrapped the security around his little finger and as soon as we were on the plane, he talked the flight attendant into an upgrade to first class.”

“Holy shit.” Ryan whispers. He looks at Shane. “How was it, flying in first class?”

“Ryan.” Shane looks at him with a deadpan expression. “Just himself. Not me. I was in economy with all the other… people.”

Ryan catches the pause. He figures Shane was going to say “ n ormal people”.  He knows Shane would have been referring to  the people who weren’t ridiculously rich , but  realiz ed how it would sound since they were talking about Ryan’s … “condition”.  It was kind of sweet that he stopped himself.

“It’s okay man.” Ryan pats Shane’s hand on the table. “I know you don’t think I’m… ill.”

They look at each other for a moment before Shane sighs and gets up to walk around the table. He cups Ryan’s face in his hands and looks at him.

“Ryan… I really want to keep you safe. I don’t want to fucking control you, but I keep imagining how wrong this could go. I don’t know what he would have done if I hadn’t talked to him. Where he would have gone. Maybe he would not have gone to Vegas but to… I don’t know… Europe maybe. I wish I could help you to fix this but I also know this is not something I can do. And I don’t want to hurt you by implying something’s wrong with your head, because I’m not longer sure if that’s what it is.”

“Well.. something _is_ wrong…” Ryan shrugs and Shane leans in to kiss his forehead. “But I did go to a doctor and they did all that brain scan shit and they said I should be fine. I… feel fine. I guess. It’s just that sometimes… I’m not me. But still kind of fine, I guess.”

Shane smiles down at him.

“Okay. Then I’m fine as well.”

Ryan blinks.

“Really? You wouldn’t even change it if you could?”

Shane laughs and rubs his thumb over Ryan’s cheekbone.

“No. I don’t want to change anything about you that you don’t want to change. You’re just the way I like you.”

Ryan could nearly tear up at that because Shane’s face is so open and kind as he says it. So, in order to not burst into sobs, he gets up and pulls Shane into a kiss by the collar of his shirt.

 

“I’m still sorry he gives you trouble.” Ryan whispers as they part and Shane smiles a bit, wrapping him in his arms.

“It’s alright. He seemed… I guess he allowed to reconsider a few things. He wasn’t as set in his ways as before.”

“What do you mean?”

Shane frowns and thinks for a moment.

“Well, I thought I couldn’t keep him from anything, but, you know, there was stuff like…”

 

-

 

“You better watch out for that body, Goldsworth.” Shane grumbled as he saw Ricky eye the lights of Las Vegas, lingering on the entrance to the closest casino. “If you get yourself beaten up, I’ll chain you down next time you break out. I told you that I don’t want Ryan to get hurt because of you.”

“Yeah, yeah, Long-Legs. Shut up.” Ricky waved a dismissive hand at him. “You can calm your tits, I just want to play a little and have a good night. And don’t worry: I’ll make sure your precious little Ryan stays unharmed.”

Shane bit back a comment about Ricky not being taller than “little” Ryan because Ricky shot him a look that had just a hint of disgust.

“He’s so sweet on you I could vomit. But, since I kind of need him around, I’ll endure it. Don’t say I never did anything for you.”

With that, he ran a hand through his hair, put a grin on his face,  which again, was not quite Ryan’s grin and led Shane into the loud and bright world of gambling.

 

-

 

“So… he promised you to play nice because I… care about you?”

Shane shrugs, suddenly shy.

“Apparently.”

“Huh.” Ryan is surprised. So far, he had been sure that Ricky didn’t care about him at all. At least not beyond the whole “If you die, I die” situation. He wants to kick himself for not taking the chance to finally break out the word “love”, because he figures Shane has been thinking it, too. But maybe right now wasn’t the best moment for big confessions. He should figure out what to do about Ricky.

 

If Ryan is completely honest,  he doesn’t want to call therapists and psychiatrists about this and have them poke around his brain because…  well, he is pretty sure they wouldn’t actually find anything.

H e still kind of thinks that he  could be possessed. It would make sense to him not to remember much about his possession in his childhood, because that’s just how children tend to deal with bad  memories sometimes.  They forget. Ryan isn’t completely ruling out the possibility that it could be  all  in his mind and he knows that it’s the explanation Shane  is inclined to believe in , but then again…

He read  a little about personality disorders and  while some of the symptoms and descriptions fit his own experience, it didn’t quite feel like what he  deals with when it comes to Ricky. Maybe it was just a ghost that  latched onto him when he was little and now  sometimes  takes over. He could get an exorcism done,  sure, but despite his beliefs, he’s not too sure if the exorcists he met  were the right people to ask for help in this  situation. The one time he mentioned it to Shane, his boyfriend had cringed and clearly held back a  sharp comment . Their different opinions about the supernatural made discussing Ricky even harder than it already was, but Shane had finally caved and given Ryan an honest opinion.

 

“You know that I think all exorcists are hacks and do more harm than good. And… I don’t think you’ll end up _just_ like Anneliese Michel but-” He had stopped speaking, biting his bottom lip for a moment until Ryan managed to nudge him into continuing.

“What if they hurt you? Or what if they make it worse? If this is _not_ a possession, it could seriously cause you harm and I can’t-”

Shane hadn’t been able to finish the sentence, heaving deep breaths and fidgeting until Ryan pulled him into a tight hug and clung to him.

 

-

 

“Ryan?”

Shane’s voice pulls Ryan out of his thoughts.

“Sorry. I’m back on the old thing. Trying to think about what to do. How to… fix me.”

“You’re not broken, Ryan.” Shane says in the old, familiar tone. It’s the same tone he uses to tell Ryan he’s alright when they’re on location.

“I know that. I just have a fucking annoying freeloader hanging in my brain, taking over whenever he feels like it and I’m just afraid-”

He breaks off and rubs his face.

“Listen. From what I’ve seen in recordings and heard from you and others, this guy is a nuisance and an asshole. But what if he actually hurts someone one day? Who tells me he isn’t ready to stab someone who insults him or-” Ryan breaks off and sighs deeply. Shane’s hand rubs circles against his back. “What should I do the next time Ric-”

“ _Don’t.”_

Shane’s interruption is so quick that Ryan almost jumps.

“What?”

“Don’t… say his name.” Shane mumbles more than he speaks and doesn’t quite meet Ryan’s eyes. “I know it sounds stupid but I think that _maybe_ he’s more likely to pop up when someone mentions him. We talked a bit about him since we got together and I was thinking that maybe-”

“Shane.” Ryan blinks up at him but Shane still won’t meet his eyes, so Ryan reaches out and cups his face to turn it to him. “Do you think that it was somehow your fault that he stayed longer this time?”

Shane shakes his head but he dodges Ryan’s eyes again, unable to meet his gaze.

“Shane.” Ryan rolls his eyes and resolves to shak his shoulders slightly when Shane still won’t look at him and _finally_ Shane turns to meet his eyes. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. And not even that douche can ruin this, okay?”

Shane’s face breaks into a watery smile and he leans in to steal a kiss from Ryan, holding him a little tighter.

“Okay. But-”

“No buts.” Ryan decrees. “We’re going to get our fair share out of this room now before we have to vacate it. This place has a huge tub with jacuzzi jets and I know you would never forgive yourself for trying it out and then we’re gonna defile the bed because no bed has a right to be that big.”

 

That does the trick and Shane bursts into wheezes, soon rubbing laughing tears from his eyes as he clutches to Ryan and then he pulls him into another kiss, warmer and less pained than before.

 

-

 

Once Ryan is sure that they thoroughly enjoyed the suite, they collect their sparse luggage and pack. Shane surprises Ryan by pulling out a paper envelope from the inside of Ryan’s suit jacket that Ricky dug up from God-knows-where the day before.

 

“I still have a bit of story to tell about yesterday, if you’re up for it.”

Ryan steels himself, but nods.

“You see, Mr. ...uh. _Our mutual friend_ wanted to come here to enjoy the casinos, right? So he picked one, ordered a drink, mingled, charmed a few people, bet some money…”

That makes Ryan cringe. He probably had some  cash in his wallet,  not much because payday was still a bit off but there must have been  _some_ at least.

“How much…?”

Shane seems to be fighting a smile.

“Apparently he’s good at reading people… or manipulating them. Because the guy at the Blackjack table was sweating in under three minutes having to deal with him and… you know, _deal him_ and long story short, he won quite a bit and they made him leave because they suspected he was card-counting.

Ryan’s mouth is standing open.

“So… he-”

“He made a bit of money.” Shane opens the envelope and Ryan blinks at the sight of the crisp dollar notes inside. “I thought about maybe donating it or something because it feels… _dirty_ despite everything. But we still need to get home so maybe we could use it to pay for the plane tickets…?”

Ryan nearly wheezes.

“Are you telling me that… he actually kind of paid me back, this time?”

“Maybe he’s trying to be a little less of a pain.” Shane shrugs. “Or he’s scared of you.”

Ryan laughs, because that sounds ridiculous but then suddenly, he pauses and glances away quickly, looking over at their stuff on the bed.

 

He suddenly recalls what he did the night before. Tired from a long day, glaring at his reflection in the mirror and taking in the dark bags under his eyes. Anxiety had coiled in his belly from the very short, very quick lapses that occurred over the past few weeks. They had each only lasted a couple of seconds, but they still made him jumpy.

Ryan had stared down his reflection, looking for something behind his own eyes, something that might hide in the corner of his mouth, in the tiny crinkles in his skin here and there, in the way his forehead would pull into a frown.

He hadn’t seen it. But he had stared himself down anyway.

“Listen… _Ricky Goldsworth,”_ Ryan had sad into the mirror, close enough for his breath to fog up the glass. “I know you like to play games. But when it comes to Shane, this isn’t a game. He’s off limits, you hear me? He’s more important to me than myself, which by an extent means _you_ , which means that if you ever hurt him, you’re done for. I’ll find a way to get you out and if it destroys me, I don’t care. You either behave and I’ll let you drive this baby once in a while or you’re out of the car. Understood?”

 

There had been no answer and Ryan really hadn’t expected any. He half expected to lose consciousness and wake up somewhere, maybe half naked in a public place or in jail, but nothing had happened. His reflection had looked back at him, tired and exhausted but definitely Ryan and with a sigh, Ryan had finished getting ready for bed and crawled under the covers, missing the familiar warmth and weight of Shane’s body next to him.

 

-

 

“I think...” Ryan blinks and looks at Shane. “I think I summon- brought him up this time. I tried to talk to him and…”

Shane seems surprised, putting his hands in his pockets and leaning back to take in Ryan’s face.

“Huh. Okay…” His words are slow and careful. “I… did he answer?”

Ryan shakes his head.

“Not… I mean not like that. But maybe he heard me? If he allowed you to come along and all? I think he could warm up to you or something.”

Shane chuckles a bit.

“Are you suggesting I should befriend or charm him the next time he shows up? I don’t really feel like flirting with him because even though he’s really handsome, he’s a dickbag.”

Ryan wheezes and bends over as his stomach hurts with suppressed laughter.

“Shut up.” He gasps at Shane who’s grinning widely. “I meant you can probably make sure he doesn’t cause trouble. Don’t fucking- Please don’t start dating him that would be weird.”

“God no.” Shane laughs and grabs their things to leave the room. “But I’ll try my best and reel him in next time.”

 

It’s only after they handed off the keycard and left the hotel, squinting into the hot midday sun of Las Vegas that Ryan turns to Shane.

“Thank you.”

Shane glances over at him and slowly steps closer to wrap an arm around Ryan.

“It’s alright. I want you to be safe, you know.”

Ryan smiles.

“Dito, big guy.”

“You know how we could keep an eye on him better?”

“Hm?”

Shane flushes a little.

“You could… you know, move in with me.”

Ryan stares at him, mouth slightly open as he watches Shane’s ears get a bit red betraying his calm demeanor on the outside.

“Really?” Ryan feels something inside of him swell like a balloon.

“I mean, it’s fine if you don’t. I don’t want to make you feel like you need a Nanny or something. I just thought that it might help to have someone around to make sure you don’t leave in the middle of the night and also-”

Shane takes a deep breath and presses his lips together, growing even redder.

“I want you to move in.” He finally manages and Ryan, not even caring that they stand in a busy street in the middle of the day, wraps his arms around Shane’s neck and pulls him in a kiss, on tiptoes and everything. He is about two heartbeats away from letting his foot flip like he’s in a romantic comedy.

 _Maybe that’s what it is,_ he thinks, as Shane places his hands on Ryan’s rips and kisses back. Maybe Ricky Goldsworth was just a really annoying cupid that dragged both of them to Las Vegas so they would allow their relationship to evolve.

 

Probably not. But then again-

Ryan pulls back and smiles up at Shane who’s grin is bright and just a tiny bit wobbly.

“I would love to move in with you.”

“Okay. Good.”

They both laugh, mostly because they are idiots. But Ryan is also laughing at the notion of Ricky Goldsworth grumbling slightly insulted about the implication that he actually cares about Ryan and Shane. Even if he was, he probably would never admit it.

 

_Well, tough luck buddy,_ Ryan thinks as he takes Shane’s hand and pulls him towards the Taxi stand.  _If you want to stick around, you have to deal with all of this. We’re going to make sure of that._

**Author's Note:**

> You can make your own decision about who or what Ricky is, but it doesn't really matter to the boys in this case. <3


End file.
